REVIEW: St. Lucia at Canton Hall in Dallas

A review of the St. Lucia concert at Canton Hall in Dallas, featuring new music from their latest album Hyperion.

(DALLAS) — On Friday, October 26th, 2018, About Magazine was given the opportunity to see the musician/musical project St. Lucia live in Dallas, TX at Canton Music Hall in the artsy Deep Ellum neighborhood. Let me begin by saying that, even as a person who works in country music, St. Lucia is one of my favorite bands. Led by frontman Jean-Philip Grobler, the modern take on 80s synthpop music first came into my life a few years ago while dining in Houston when I overheard one of their songs being played. After just that first song, I knew I had to learn more about who was making this music and immediately Shazam-ed the tune, which spiraled me into the magical, musical world of St. Lucia.

Photo by Anthony Ramirez

Seeing St. Lucia onstage for the second time in my life was nothing short of an indulgence I’d been craving like a glass of wine after a long work week. I first saw St. Lucia live in 2016 at White Oak Music Hall in Houston — where I found myself nothing short of starstruck and impressed beyond measure — but seeing them for the second time at Canton Hall was just as unbelievable, if not more so. Comparably, St. Lucia’s onstage presence was not only a total makeover improvement from the first time I’d seen them — and that’s a makeover from a show I already thought to be great — but simply immaculate not only in sound, but also in aesthetic. Every song was synchronized in lighting and sound to pulsate to the rhythm and the visual manifest of each song, while aberrant, was perfectly fitting. This alone really highlighted just what perfectionists St. Lucia is comprised of.

Jean-Philip’s stage presence only added another delicious layer to the aesthetic and music, as it was evident that he — as well as bandmates Ross Clark, Nick Paul, Dustin Kaufman, and Patti Beranek — are completely impassioned by the music that they’re making. It’s that passion that bewitches the audience, keeping them on their feet, jumping up and down, and shouting song lyrics at the tops of their lungs. And the music, believe it or not, only gets better and better from St. Lucia. Over the course of three albums — the most recent of which entitled Hyperion — St. Lucia isn’t just singing songs into microphones or pressing down the ivories of a keyboard. In fact, what St. Lucia is doing with their music is something far more incredible, as each new album and down to every single song tells a story that keen listeners can visualize as a map or storyboard of who they are. By taking this storyboard and rearranging its chronology in such a perfect way, the band weaves together music old and new to tell that story in a fresh, new way that both old fans and newcomers can enjoy without forsaking the crisp, clean sound they’ve worked so hard to create.

Photo by Anthony Ramirez.

What was truly impressive to me were the faces I saw around Canton Hall. St. Lucia’s fanbase is nothing if not diverse, with fans of all ages, sexual orientations, gender identifications, skin colors, and more bound together by their music and enjoying themselves the entire time. Moreover, the hall was packed out. While St. Lucia may still be fairly new on the music scene and not quite as well known as some more mainstream, pop musicians, they certainly had no trouble getting people in the doors and keeping them there from the beginning until after the very end. Their interaction with those fans — as well as with one another — really shows how much the band loves doing what they do, but more so shows their own camaraderie within their own little family. It is evident just by watching them laugh, smile, and hug one another on the stage that the entire band has a deep affection for one another that cannot be feigned or forced. That camaraderie bleeds into the passion that they have for their music, which can be hard for synthpop bands. Nevertheless, it shows what a great time they’re having making music that is appealing to people from every walk of life.